Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney greets people as he arrives at a campaign stop Monday in New Hampshire, where he has dedicated far more time this election cycle than in Iowa. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney will be in Iowa on Thursday, Oct. 20, making his third trip to the Hawkeye State this year less than three months before the GOP caucuses.

Details of next week’s trip are pending, but Romney will make campaign stops in western Iowa, Romney’s Iowa consultant David Kochel said this morning.

Romney during two previous Iowa visits stressed that he would return this fall, but the energy he has put into the state pales in comparison to the expensive and time-consuming Iowa effort he mounted on his first presidential bid four years ago.

Iowa conservatives who closely follow the race doubt he can capture much more than second or third in the caucuses, given that some Iowa tea partiers and social conservatives shudder at his name.

The former Massachusetts governor claimed second place in the 2008 caucuses, shoved aside by evangelical Christian Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor.

Romney’s natural base is mainstream Republicans who care most about the nation’s faltering economy. In contrast, it’s been evangelical activists who have proven the most ardent caucusgoers in recent cycles.

The campaigns of Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann have tarnished, and Chris Christie and Sarah Palin officially declared that they’ll sit out this race. The result: Romney has fresh appeal for some Iowa conservatives.

Romney, a former business executive, visited Ankeny, Des Moines, Pella and the Iowa State Fair during two trips earlier this year. He didn’t participate in the straw poll in August, hasn’t done a single advertisement or direct mail piece in Iowa, and has only a small staff here.

A new NBC News/Marist survey of like Iowa GOP caucusgoers puts Romney at 23 percent, followed by Georgia’s Herman Cain at 20 percent, and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas at 11 percent.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota are tied at 10 percent.

Republicans here say Romney has a shot at doing well in the caucuses, tentatively set for Jan. 3, because the voting blocs of tea partiers and social conservatives/evangelical Christians are split between several other candidates.

Also: turnout is expected to be high this time, posing an opportunity for Romney.

And electability remains a potent argument for many Iowa voters — and a clear strength for Romney, several Iowa politics watchers said.